Braves Win 2nd from Phillies

All the pain Odalis Perez felt on his long road to recovery was worth it Sunday. Perez won his first game in nearly two years, and Brian Jordan and Andruw Jones homered as the Atlanta Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies 3-0.

"It feels good to help the team," Perez said. "It feels good to win, especially when I was able to help us finally win a series."

Perez, whose previous victory was against Tampa Bay on June 8, 1999, allowed four hits and three walks in seven innings, striking out four.

Atlanta, off to a 6-7 start, avoided losing its fourth straight series, something the Braves haven`t done since July 5-22, 1990. Since scoring 10 runs at Cincinnati on opening day, Atlanta has just 30 runs in 12 games.

Perez, coming off elbow reconstruction surgery that sidelined him the final two months of the 1999 season and all of last year, allowed only one runner to reach scoring position.

The 22-year-old left-hander gave up a one-out single to Kevin Jordan in the first before walking Bobby Abreu. Scott Rolen then grounded into a double play.

"That kind of got me in a groove," Perez said. "It helped my confidence."

Braves manager Bobby Cox attributed a lot of Perez`s success to adding a slide step. That allowed the left-hander to keep runners from taking a big lead off first base.

"That keeps `em honest," Cox said. "I was hoping for seven or eight (innings). He hadn`t been in those waters in nearly two years."

Perez (1-1), making his second start, worked one inning in a relief appearance at New York last Thursday, giving up no hits and walking one. He was hit hard in his first start, a 7-1 loss to he Mets on April 5 in which he allowed four runs and eight hits.

Mike Remlinger relieved Perez and gave up one hit in the eighth. John Rocker pitched the ninth for his fourth save in five chances.

Robert Person (1-1) gave up all three runs and four hits in 7 2-3 innings and struck out seven.

"He pitched great," Phillies manager Larry Bowa said. "We`re not hitting. We`re just not hitting. He pitched a good enough game to win, but you can`t win with no runs. We had a lot of easy outs today."

Brian Jordan homered with one out in the second. Jones homered leading off the eighth.

Person was relieved by Ricky Bottalico after walking pinch-hitter Dave Martinez in the eighth. Bottalico immediately gave up an RBI double to Rafael Furcal.

"I made one mistake," Person said. "I challenged Brian Jordan, and he hit it. It was a 3-1 fastball."

Person also blamed himself for being too predictable in handling Jones.

"I threw him one too many splits," Person said. "He sat on it."

Still searching for a way to get his team out of a season-long offensive slump, Cox moved Rico Brogna into the No. 2 spot in the batting order, and batted B.J. Surhoff third, Andruw Jones sixth and Javy Lopez seventh.

It`s unclear if Cox will stay with those changes.

"We`ll just have to wait and see," he said.

Notes:
The Braves are 20-8 against Philadelphia at Turner Field. ... Atlanta called up second baseman Marcus Giles from Triple-A Richmond as utility infielder was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a lower abdominal strain. ... Phillies backup OF Rob Ducey, who`s been out with strained right calf, will come off the DL and be in uniform Monday at Chicago. Backup infielder David Newhan was put on the 15-day disabled list Sunday with inflammation in his right shoulder.

(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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Author: 6 ABC - Action News (AP)